ExpressVPN Vs NordVPN – Which is The Best VPN Compared in 2020

Are you looking for the best VPN between ExpressVPN and NordVPN and not sure which VPN to choose? Both of these are leading VPN providers in the market with great reliability and speed. They both have thousands of servers worldwide with excellent customer support and streaming speed.

So here in this guide, We’re testing both ExpressVPN and NordVPN and see which is better suited for various tasks. While both are excellent choices, only one came out on top for this comparison.

And in this comparison, we’ll carefully examine and test each service in 10 different categories, and it will solve all your doubts on which VPN is good to consider.

ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN – Which One to Consider?

As of 2020, ExpressVPN and NordVPN are probably two most leading and most reputable VPNs that are available in the market today.

However, choosing the best amongst them isn’t easy as both of them are beast, and at first glimpse, they both look pretty much similar in terms of features and services.

But there is a lot of difference in both expressvpn and nordvpn when it comes to testing speed, Netflix and online streaming, pricing, and usability – But let’s take a deeper look on which one is the winner…

1. Speed & Reliability

So, first of all, let’s discuss the speed and reliability of these two VPN providers. When it comes to reliability, both of these two VPNs offer zero-log policies with military-grade security and support mostly all devices. Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN is an ever-growing VPN provider that increases their servers continuously.

When we tested the speed of both VPNs, the results are as follow (Indian ISP);

So we’re getting 63 MBPS downloading speed and 66 MBPS uploading speed without using any VPN provider on my current 75 MBPS broadband service in India, and in this guide, we will examine the speed of both VPNs using US Servers.

Without using any VPN service, we’re getting these results

Ping: 4ms

Downloading Speed: 63 MBPS

Uploading Speed: 66 MBPS

Now, with using ExpressVPN (US Server);

ExpressVPN (US Server)

When I connected with the ExpressVPN’s New York Server, I’m getting around 21 MBPS downloading speed and 31 MBPS uploading speed. The speed is ideal for playing online games, streaming online content, and Netflix.

Ping: 226ms

Downloading Speed: 29 MBPS

Uploading Speed: 31 MBPS

And with using NordVPN (US Server);

NordVPN (US Server)

So when I connect with NordVPN’s US Server, I’m getting 24 MBPS downloading speed along with 13 MBPS uploading speed, and the original speed without using VPN is around 63 MBPS downloading and 66 MBPS uploading speed.

3. Features & Customer Support

So when it comes to features and customer support, both ExpressVPN and NordVPN are leaders of the market with their wide range of features and impressive customer support.

Both VPNs offer tons of features, including DNS Leak Protection, Kill Switch, as well as a way to connect on startup automatically.

Apart from this, each VPN has an extra standout feature. For NordVPN, it’s “CyberSec” that will help you to prevent from unwanted ads, malware, phishing, and online cyber threats. On the other hand, ExpressVPN offers “Split-Tunneling,” which is another incredible feature that lets you choose on a per-application basis in which computer programs use the VPN’s secure connection and which applications use your regular internet connection.

CyberSec Feature by NordVPN

And when it comes to supports and knowledgebase, both VPNs have 5-star customer support, and they respond well to solve my queries.

Here in this table, you can find the average response time of both the VPNs and the type of support they do offer to their users.

Customer Service

ExpressVPN

NordVPN

Live chat

Yes

Yes

Ticket support

Yes

Yes

Email support

Yes

Yes

Average email support response time

49 mins

3 hours, 45 mins

Phone support

No

No

Searchable Knowledge Base

Yes

Yes

Video Guides

Yes

Yes

Apart from this, when I emailed their team for a few queries, they responded back with the solution to my queries (Some VPNs even don’t reply to you back). Here is the average response time in which I’ve received a reply back from their support

from ExpressVPN;

Question

Initial Response Time

Number of Emails

Question Answered?

Can NordVPN unblock Netflix US?

1 hour 24 mins

1

Yes

Is there protection against DNS leaks?

2 hours 29 mins

2

Yes

If I pay with bitcoin, will I be billed automatically at the end of a cycle?

1 hour 8 mins

1

Yes

from NordVPN;

Question

Initial Response Time

Number of Emails

Question Answered?

Can NordVPN unblock Netflix US?

1 hour 24 mins

1

Yes

Is there protection against DNS leaks?

3 hour 49 mins

1

Yes

If I pay with bitcoin, will I be billed automatically at the end of a cycle?

4 hours 59 mins

1

Yes

The average response time of ExpressVPN is fast as compared to NordVPN, but both of them are able to solve my queries. NordVPN takes a few more hours or minutes as compared with ExpressVPN, but they actually send replies to all questions – some VPNs don’t.

But the support and features of both the two VPNs are extremely great, and it’s a tie between both ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

4. Usability (ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN)

Again both the VPN are very easy to use, and basically, you can connect to their server in a single click.

They offer VPN service for the various platform including macOS, Windows, Android, etc., and here is how the ExpressVPN and NordVPN app looks on a macOS device.

ExpressVPN UI (in macOS);

ExpressVPN UI (in macOS)

NordVPN UI (in macOS);

NordVPN UI (in macOS)

Both ExpressVPN and NordVPN look minimalistic, and you can easily connect with the server of your choice as well as tweak the settings, such as protocols, kill-switch (on/off), DNS settings, and so on.

Additionally, ExpressVPN also offers an additional feature through which you can check the speed of their server right from your Desktop or Mobile application. It is another great feature that is provided by ExpressVPN to its user.

Both apps are very similar, and we couldn’t determine the winner on the basis of the Usability and User Interface; So we decided to test which one connects faster to the smart location (closest and faster server from you), and here are the results;

NordVPN – takes 3.62 seconds to connect.

ExpressVPN – takes 5.7 seconds to connect.

Winner;

Not a big difference, but still, NordVPN was the faster and clear winner.

5. Security, Jurisdictions & Logging Policies

First of all, both ExpressVPN and NordVPN respect your privacy at the highest level. If you’re using any of these two VPN providers, then you can easily trust both these VPNs when it comes to no-logging policies and security.

And when it comes to security, both of them offer AES-256 based data encryption along with private DNS, kill switch and OpenVPN, L2TP, PPTP, and various other VPN protocols.

Here in this table, you’ll find more about their security;

Security Type

ExpressVPN

NordVPN

VPN Protocols

OpenVPN, L2TP, SSTP, PPTP

OpenVPN, IKEv2, L2TP, PPTP

OpenVPN Data Encryption

AES-256

AES-256

OpenVPN Control Channel Encryption

RSA-4096

RSA-2048

Cloaking Technology

Cypher Block Chaining

Obsfproxy

Extra Transmission Protection

N/A

Double-Hop Routes

Leak Protection

DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6

DNS, WebRTC, and IPv6

App Security

Kill Switch (Desktop)

Kill Switch (Desktop and iOS), Automatic Wifi Protection

DNS Status

Private DNS

Private DNS

Jurisdiction

British Virgin Islands (BVI)

Panama

According to the table, both ExpressVPN and NordVPN offers various VPN protocol, and they use AES-256 based data encryption along with Private DNS, WebRTC Block, DNS, and IP Leak Protection.

But when it comes to OpenVPN control channel encryption, ExpressVPN offers RSA-4096 channel encryption, where NordVPN only offers RSA-2048 based channel encryption. Apart from this, if you want to squeeze out a little more speed for online gaming and streaming, you can use L2TP protocol in ExpressVPN and IKEv2 (often supported by a mobile device) on NordVPN.

Both VPNs also offer PPTP, but it is no longer considered as a secured because of the old standard; instead of using this, you can also use SSTP protocol in ExpressVPN, which is a more secured standard.

Overall, the choice of VPN protocol is solid with both VPNs, but NordVPN has a slight edge because it offers IKEv2 protocol, which is considered slightly better and faster.

Also, the security is important if you stay in China or any other 5/9/14 Eyes Alliance because it is believed that some of these authorities can now crack the RSA-1,024 bit key and currently working on cracking RSA-2,048 key. If they get there, NordVPN is completely insecure in these alliances.

And when it comes to security, NordVPN offers kill-switch on all it’s a platform, but ExpressVPN only supports the kill-switch button on the desktop. ExpressVPN also supports split-tunning in a mobile device that lets you choose on a per-application basis in which computer programs use the VPN’s secure connection and which programs use your regular internet connection.

6. Netflix & Online Streaming

When it comes to Netflix and accessing geo-blocked sites, both VPNs perform well, and there isn’t much that you can’t access from these two VPN providers.

When we tested this VPN to unblock few geo-blocked streaming sites, they perform very well, and here I’m also sharing what we’re able to unblock and access the sites using both of these VPN providers in the table below.

Geo-Blocked Sites

ExpressVPN

NordVPN

Netflix

US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, India, and more

US, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Netherlands

Amazon Prime

Yes

Yes

Hulu

US, Japan

US, Japan

Sky Go

Yes

Yes

ABC, NBC, and BBC iPlayer

Yes

Yes

ExpressVPN has a slight edge because it can unblock more geo-blocked libraries of Netflix than NordVPN. Also, the streaming speed of ExpressVPN is faster than NordVPN, and we’re able to watch Amazon and Netflix web series without any buffering with ease.

In NordVPN, every server we tested couldn’t work to unblock Netflix, Netflix detects few of them; still, it’s not an issue, they have plenty of servers (even more than ExpressVPN servers) that can unblock Netflix and other popular streaming sites.

However, if the library of your selected Netflix location can’t be unblocked, NordVPN automatically redirects you to the Netflix US library.

Winner;

ExpressVPN is a clear winner when it comes to unblocking tons of geo-blocked websites and unblocking more Netflix libraries. You can also use the NordVPN, that is available at a way lower price than ExpressVPN.

7. Torrenting

Many people use VPN for torrenting, and once again, NordVPN and ExpressVPN are great choices for torrenting. If you reside in the USA, and you are caught torrenting files through P2P software like uTorrent, you’ll likely receive a letter in the mail from your ISP, on behalf of the copyright holder, indicating the infringement under the DMCA and to prevent this, you can use VPN providers.

Note: We at TheVPNCoupon, don’t encourage you to torrent and download torrenting files from P2P software like uTorrent without using a VPN provider. A VPN can help you provide 100% anonymity and security. Stay safe and only use trusted VPNs to access torrents.

However, few VPNs like Kaspersky VPN and free VPNs limit or block torrenting altogether. And according to NordVPN, they claim themselves to be the best VPN for torrenting and trust me they’re good at it.

P2P with NordVPN

All NordVPN servers support torrenting with the fastest speed, and there are no limitations of accessing torrents. You can read more about why NordVPN is good for P2P here.

But what’s the case with ExpressVPN? Do they allow torrenting too?

Seems so…

According to their website, they also support torrenting on their server, and also they keep no connection log and no activity logs. You can read more about torrenting on ExpressVPN here.

Torrenting Speed Test (ExpressVPN vs. NordVPN)

Let’s take a look at their torrents downloading speed by downloading certain files. For this test, we’re downloading a movie named “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – Complete Speeches and Sermons” from ThePirateBay.org, having a file size of “1.1 GB” from the smart location of both ExpressVPN and NordVPN.

Here’s ExpressVPN speed while downloading…

ExpressVPN Torrent Downloading Speed

Here’s NordVPN speed while downloading…

NordVPN Torrent Downloading Speed

We downloaded the same torrent file from both VPNs and from the same site. The speed of downloading the torrent file is mostly similar while downloading the file using a VPN and without using a VPN.

While both ExpressVPN and NordVPN allows 100% torrenting on their server but after our torrenting speed test on these two VPNs, we found that NordVPN is slightly faster than ExpressVPN.

Note: Always test out the server that works perfectly to download torrent files at the fastest speed. In this torrent speed test, we have used the recommended VPN servers on both the VPNs, and they both are located in India (Our hometown).

Winner;

Not a big difference, but still, NordVPN was slightly better for torrenting.

8. Price, Discounts & Refunds

When it comes to price and discount, both ExpressVPN and NordVPN runs various remarkable offers and discount that will help you to save a lot on your VPN subscription.

ExpressVPN runs various offers to save up to 49% OFF on their VPN plans after the discount. Additionally, they also offer an extra 3 Month VPN subscription for free along with their annual VPN subscription; that way, you can get ExpressVPN for as low as $6.60/Month.

On the other hand, NordVPN offers some remarkable discounts on their VPN subscription, and you can save up to 75% OFF on their subscription. This way, you can easily grab the NordVPN subscription for as low as $2.98/Month with their 3-year subscription.

Here in this table, you can find more about the pricing and discount of both VPNs;

According to the table above, NordVPN offers four types of subscription plans (Monthly, 1 Year, 2 Year, and 3 Years) with a 30-days moneyback guarantee, wherever ExpressVPN only offers three different VPN subscriptions (Monthly, 6-Month, Annually) with a 30-days moneyback guarantee.

In a nutshell, if you’re opt-in for the NordVPN subscription for three years, it will cost you 55% cheaper than ExpressVPN 1-year plan (12 Month + Extra 3 Month Free).

Along with this, both of them even offer a 30-days moneyback guarantee. So if anyhow you’re not satisfied with the service of these VPNs, you can instantly ask for the refund within a 30-days timeframe.

We have tested their refund policy, and both players refunded the amount without asking any questions. But yes, sometimes NordVPN asks you the reason for refund just to improve the overall quality of their service.

Winner;

NordVPN, because ExpressVPN is slightly better when it comes to overall features, but NordVPN has a better deal for your money.

9. Payment

We have already analyzed the pricing of both VPNs, and now we’ll examine the payment process and available payment methods of both VPNs.

ExpressVPN

So when it comes to ExpressVPN, it has tons of payment methods. You’ll get an option to pay using all major Credit Card, PayPal, Bitcoin, and few other payment methods, including Mint and Union Pay (You can check the available payment methods in the image below).

ExpressVPN (Available Payment Method)

NordVPN

On the other hand, when it comes to NordVPN, It only supports a few payment methods. You’ll get an option to pay using Credit Cards, Crypto Currencies, Alipay, Amazon Pay, and UnionPay (You can check the available payment methods in the image below).

NordVPN (Available Payment Method)

For some unknown reason, NordVPN isn’t providing PayPal payment method in the United States region, but you can get the PayPal option in other regions.

This is indeed a drawback since PayPal is very favorable to the buyer if there is a dispute.

Apart from this, NordVPN supports Amazon Pay and few more cryptocurrencies than ExpressVPN, which only takes Bitcoin.

Winner;

Tie, because ExpressVPN accepts PayPal, Mint, and other payment methods, and NordVPN accepts more cryptocurrencies.

10. Is ExpressVPN and NordVPN the Best Value?

This is a tough call, as both the VPNs are good and work amazingly in terms of security, features, speed, and torrenting. ExpressVPN and NordVPN are both great VPNs to consider.

While the NordVPN is on the cheaper side with tons of value for money features, it beat ExpressVPN with its extraordinary pricing. You can either purchase this VPN on a monthly basis or up to a three-year subscription. This is a good value, but with a longer commitment. You can use these nordvpn coupons to save up to 75% OFF on your VPN subscription.

On the other hand, ExpressVPN is more expansive on a monthly subscription, but it is a lot cheaper when you buy it for up to a one-year subscription. You can also use these expressvpn coupons to save a lot more or up to 49% OFF on your VPN purchase.

Apart from this, if we look at the overall trend of both ExpressVPN and NordVPN, we can find that NordVPN is consistently growing (even more than ExpressVPN in the last five years).

So if you’re looking for a value for a money VPN provider, then I’ll recommend you to buy NordVPN. On the other hand, if you can invest few more bucks on VPN subscription, Undoubtedly go with ExpressVPN.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ExpressVPN Best?

ExpressVPN is one of the best VPN for Netflix and streaming online content with excellent streaming quality with fast speeds (no buffering or interruptions). This VPN has zero-log policies, and you can also use this VPN for torrenting.

Is NordVPN Best?

Yes, NordVPN is one of the best VPN, and it claimed to be the #1 VPN in the market today. This VPN can help you unblock various geo-blocked websites, including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime with ease. This VPN has zero-log policies, and it is one of the best VPN for torrenting.

What is a VPN Kill Switch?

The Kill Switch or Internet Kill Switch is a special VPN feature that automatically disconnects your computer, phone or tablet) from the Internet until the VPN connection is restored.

Do VPNs Actually Do Anything?

Yes, VPN helps to encrypt your internet traffic by giving your business online privacy and anonymity. This service creates a private network from a public internet connection. The encrypted data tunnel that VPN creates helps your business, prevents cybercriminals from hacking into your WiFi connection, and more.

Do VPN Really Hides My IP?

Yes, VPN hides your IP address. When you use a VPN network to connect to the Internet, it creates an encrypted connection or tunnel between your device and the Internet. During the tunnelling process, your IP address changes to the VPN server address.

Wrapping Up!

In this guide, we had examined expressvpn and nordvpn based on their speed, pricing, reliability, etc. and provide you with a detailed report.

Both VPNs are good to use and based on the above test, and you can consider using NordVPN for torrenting purposes and ExpressVPN for Online streaming and Netflix. Apart from this, both VPNs ranked equally in our test.

Now it’s up to you. Let me know which VPN you’re using and the reason why you use that VPN in the comment section below.

You can also take a look at SurfShark, which is another best VPN at a reasonable price to consider.

ExpressVPN Vs NordVPN - Which is The Best VPN Compared 0.00

Summary

Are you looking for the best VPN between ExpressVPN and NordVPN and not sure which VPN to choose? Both of these are leading VPN providers in the market with great reliability and speed. They both have thousands of servers worldwide with excellent customer support and streaming speed.

So here in this guide, We’re testing both ExpressVPN and NordVPN and see which is better suited for various tasks. While both are excellent choices, only one came out on top for this comparison.

TheVPNCoupon is designed to introduce you with the best VPNs currently available in the market and help you choose the safest and fastest VPN. All the information which is published on our website is collected through independent testing and research and the data is being verified through consultation with reliable sources. We constantly update the content on our website, keeping it fresh and relevant to our readers at all times.

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